England national team Manager Gareth Southgate has been told he will keep his job even if his side loses all of its group stage matches at the 2018 World Cup, per FA CEO Martin Glenn, who gave him an "overwhelming public vote of confidence," according to Martha Kelner of the London GUARDIAN. The "backlash would be considerable" if England does not find its way out of Group G, containing Belgium, Tunisia and World Cup debutant Panama. But Glenn insisted even failure to reach the knockout stages of the tournament "would not automatically spell the end for Southgate." He said, "Gareth has a long-term contract. He's not looking at Russia as a free pass. The World Cup's a really important staging post for our development, I think. We go out there wanting to win it but also being realistic. No one wants to have a bad World Cup but we're confident he's the right guy to take us through for the next few tournaments." Glenn said that "recent underwhelming performances at major championships had tempered expectations on the current team." Glenn: "After three disappointing tournaments, come back to a proud nation. Wherever we go, a performance at the World Cup that's created a buzz, got people excited. For me, it's recreate the excitement that a lot of us remember from the past but, probably, a generation of people haven't really experienced. I think that'll be brilliant" (GUARDIAN, 12/3).
